Germanistan: Child marriages could become legal from July 1st

Because the German government coalition does not implement a constitutional court ruling, child marriages could soon become part of Germany like Ramadan. The Greens were against a ban anyway.

Berlin - So far, the federal government has not complied with the Federal Constitutional Court's decision to revise the law banning child marriage. But the deadline is running out. There must be an amendment by June 30th at the latest, otherwise the law is invalid. Child marriages would then be legal in Germany.

So far, the SPD-Greens-FDP coalition has not presented a draft for this. Even if it does, the legislative process is likely to take some time. Because it has to be debated in several readings in the Bundestag and then decided.

The Union sees the clock running out. Last week the opposition called on the coalition to finally act. The deficiencies in the current law must now be eliminated as quickly as possible. They fear banned child marriages could be reinstated if the government misses the deadline. There was talk of a “significant impact on the child’s well-being”.

Minors in child marriages should receive maintenance
Background: The law passed in 2017 prohibits marriages concluded abroad in Germany if one of the partners is younger than 16 years old. This applies almost exclusively to girls. The Greens fought against the law at the time.

However, the Constitutional Court criticized the lack of regulations that protect minors as soon as they enter Germany. If your marriage is therefore invalid, maintenance claims, among other things, would have to be clarified. Karlsruhe also demanded that a forbidden marriage become valid as soon as the partner came of age.

The Federal Ministry of Justice, led by Marco Buschmann (FDP), now tried to calm the situation. “The ministry will shortly present a draft law to take into account the requirements of the Federal Constitutional Court,” he told the Bild newspaper.

Source: Junge Freiheit